Romney may try to stop Trump at GOP National Convention, sources say

Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney’s inner circle says.

Romney and Trump clash ahead of debate (WXYZ-Detroit/Inform)

By ERIC BRADNER AND CATHERINE TREYZ CNN

March 3, 2016 - 2:39 pm

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks critically about current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the state of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign during a speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, March 3, 2015. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks critically about current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the state of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign during a speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, March 3, 2015. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks critically about current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the state of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign during a speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, March 3, 2015. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney’s inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee’s advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising.

“It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention,” said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump’s delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney’s request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party’s banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee.

In a speech Thursday at the University of Utah, he urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states — saying he’d back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump’s strongest foe.

“Here’s what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” Romney said. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”

He said that “dishonestly is Donald Trump’s hallmark,” pointing to his “bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.”

Despite his scathing speech, it’s unlikely that such an act will dissuade any of Trump’s loyal core of supporters. So far, even Trump’s most eyebrow-raising antics have been meet with swelling support.

Nonetheless, Romney lambasted Trump on foreign policy, casting him as “very, very not-smart” in his comments about allowing ISIS to take out Syria’s leadership and for proposing the slaughter of the families of terrorists.

Romney mocked Trump’s failed business ventures, pointing to his airline, his casino bankruptcies and more, and attacked his sexual indiscretions, too.

“There’s a dark irony in his boasts of his sexual exploits during the Vietnam war, while at the same time, John McCain, who he has mocked, was in prison being tortured,” he said.

McCain also weighed in, saying he agrees with Romney and a group of conservative national security officials who issued a letter warning against Trump on Wednesday.

Romney said,” If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism.”

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention.

In addition, two senior Republican Party insiders told CNN that the convention scenario is now dominating a lot of conversation in GOP fundraising circles. To be sure, both of these sources are skeptical about Romney being able to execute this plan, but both believe that there is a real attempt underway to try to do this.

If the plan were to come to fruition, these Republican Party insiders believe it will likely drive Trump into a third party candidacy in the fall.

Trump has repeatedly threatened an independent run if he isn’t treated “fairly” by Republicans.

“He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees’ — he would have dropped to his knees,” he said.

He said of 2012: “That was a race, I have to say, folks, that should have been won. … I don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared. He disappeared. And I wasn’t happy about it, I’ll be honest, because I am not a fan of Barack Obama, because I backed Mitt Romney — I backed Mitt Romney. You can see how loyal he is.”

Trump said Romney thought about running again in 2016, but “chickened out.”